Talk:WM/Character Creation
In the interest of protecting the druid's niche, should Weather spells above Druidic CI 2 or 3 be forbidden (with the exception of the Lightning chain of spells)? Whether they're part of the Air or Water colleges or not. :Emily, please sign your posts! :I think giving druids control of the weather is a good idea, but we check with Kevin and Ted to be sure. : --Mark 21:07, 8 June 2009 (UTC) ::I can go either way on this. I don't have a problem with the druid getting niche protection like this, but there's plenty of precedent for fantasy mages having control over weather. Honestly, 'Druid' might function better as a specialty of 'Mage' in the first place, but that's probably too much work to rewrite. ::--Harald387 14:52, 9 June 2009 (UTC) :::You also think that "Bard" and "Cleric" should be a specialty of 'Mage' though ;) :::DF1 actually explicitly forbids Weather spells, but does it so mushily that they end up being allowed due to being Air and Water spells anyways. I'm just suggesting formally tightening up the wording so that rule has actual teeth. • Animal, Plant, and Weather spells are the preserve of druids. Again, wizards may only learn such magic as part of another college or when a spell from another college absolutely requires it. :::The problem here is "part of another college" - Plant and Animal are clearly separate colleges (Mark's added exceptions for the Shapeshifting spells, which is a good idea IMO) but the Weather college is more of a meta-college and all its spells belong to other colleges already, meaning the blanket prohibition implodes. :::I would specifically allow Lightning, Explosive Lightning, Lightning Weapon, Lightning Missiles, Lightning Whip, Shocking Touch, Wall of Lightning, and Body of Lightning to wizards. Weather Dome, Spark Cloud, Lightning Armor and Resist Lightning I could go either way on. :::Note that forbidding Weather Dome effectively forbids Force Dome and its related spells. :::Explicitly, this would result in forbidding Cloud-Vaulting, Cloud-Walking, Clouds, Cool, Current, Fog, Frost, Hail, Predict Weather, Rain, Snow, Storm, Spark Storm, Tide, Warm, Waves, and Wind. Other spells are either on my recommended list or my "enh, either works" list. :::(by the way, I would say a Weather Witch who isn't a Druid would be a new template - looking probably much like a hybrid between Wizard and Druid though. Wizard's attributes and advantages, a blend of both templates disads plus likely a few unique items (Vow: Virginity for really witchy types for one), and a blend of the skills sections.) :::--Bruno 15:16, 9 June 2009 (UTC) ::I'd totally support "Witch/Shaman" as an archetype. Sort of a blend of the academic wizard, the empowered cleric, and the naturalist druid. Spell list is anything with Magery 1, most of the Cleric PI3 list, most of the Druid PI3 list, and parts of the Cleric and Druid PI4 list (Dispel Magic, Divination, Curse, Remove Curse, Create Animal, Shapeshifting, Strike Barren, Entombment, Shapeshift Others). No Thaumatology or Religion, but Naturalist, Nature Lore, Occultism, and Alchemy as primary skills. Basically a magical all-rounder for small parties, more versatile than any of the specialists but necessarily less skilled. ::I like Emily's "forbidden" list, and would make all of the "either" spells forbidden except Weather Dome. Ultra Dome is definitely a wizard spell! :: --Mark 15:48, 9 June 2009 (UTC) Adventurers Kit Here's a sample "Adventurers Kit" or "Grab Bag" that should (I hope) contain the essentials. I'd appreciate people reviewing this because I have a tendency to overpack. Backpack, Small ($60, 3 lbs) :Blanket aka Bedroll ($20, 4 lbs) :Oil flask (1 pt) ($2, 1lb) :Sack, Leather ($30, 3 lbs) ::Traveler's Rations: 10 days ($60, 15 lbs) ::Standard Trail Rations: 4 days ($72, 15 lbs) :::rich and overburdened delvers should consider instead :::Fine Trail Rations: 5 days ($225, 7.5 lbs) :Tent, 1-Man ($50, 5 lbs) :Wineskin ($10, 8.25 lbs filled with water) Pouch ($10) :Personal Basics ($5, 1 lb) :Small Knife (Cheap) ($12, 0.5 lb) Lantern ($20, 2 lbs) Total: $264, 42.75 lbs. Total: $276, 45.75 lbs ($459 and 35.25 lbs for the rich delvers option) This is water for one day, and food for 10 (assumes we can find fresh water - fairly safe in this area). 24 hours of light, requires one hand, not prone to blowing out in a breeze, much more convenient than torches, and cheaper for 24hrs of light too. Also includes the bare minimum camping gear for one person - personal basics includes things like a toothbrush, flint and tinder etc. Cheap knife is included because going out into the wilderness without SOMETHING sharp to cut things with is crazy. ;Things at least one person in the party should have: :Rope. We'll look like total idiots when the first dungeon we find has a 20' shaft as the entrance. :A compass. Mark is stressing overland travel. :A crowbar. :Chalk or Charcoal (both, preferably) :A scribes kit (We can make maps for post-delve money! And to avoid getting lost in areas we've already explored!) ::I'd replace the lantern and oil with a Glow Vial. Lighter, only $8 more, lasts 12 hours, and isn't prone to being set on fire. --Harald387 20:18, 11 June 2009 (UTC) ::The problem with Glow Vials is that they cost $8 more, last half as long, and have to be used ALL AT ONCE. You can't use them for 4 hrs, turn them off, and have 8 hrs left. --Bruno 22:11, 11 June 2009 (UTC) ;GM's thoughts of stuff you guys need: :Group Basics :6' Pole :Shovel :A wheelbarrow is a cheap way to carry a lot of stuff, but it slows off-road movement. ::I wanted to put a shovel on the list but worried I was overdoing it. Group Basics is a good cop! Wheelbarrows really aren't a bad idea, cheaper than a donkey cart and donkey and donkey driver and donkey driver GUARD anyways... DF 5 - Allies - Is this in use? Clerics can take Holy servitors regardless, so I suppose it's a two part question: One: Does the GM have a general dislike of the Ally advantage (some do!) Two: If a Cleric takes a Holy servitor, should the player bother selecting spheres from DF5? The GM gets to design your ally either way, of course. :(Checks the page). Yes, I believe Allies is a valid rulebook. :One: No, but thanks for asking. You will probably be required to run your ally in combat subject to GM override. :Two: The less I have to do, the happier I am. :--Mark 21:30, 18 June 2009 (UTC) :: Sorry, didn't find that one! Thanks. ::Re 1) Yeah, I tend to run it that way too. Saves the GM brainspace. ::Re 2) Right. If I go with my dwerf cleric, I will submit, along with the cleric, a character sheet for the servitor, along with notes explaining whut and where. You are as usual free to do whatever to it, but hopefully it will result in "Whatever" being relatively small. ::I was thinking, incidentally, of a Servitor of Thor - Good, Fire (reskinned as lightning, as per the note) and War sound appropriate, seeing as Drunken Partying and Strength weren't options. --Bruno 21:58, 18 June 2009 (UTC) Better Starting Equipment On the one hand, heavy armor in GURPS is really expensive for what you get (slightly better DR, more encumbrance). On the other hand, it sucks that Knights and Holy Warriors get 10x the starting gear of a wizard. I'm thinking of moving to something like this table: ; Re slightly better DR, more encumbrance "Slightly" better DR is pretty dang good. We're not talking about having to absorb rocket launcher hits - so +1 DR is great at melee scale. You've completely forbidden the steel armor, which has the best DR to Weight ratio. . . ; Re: Expensive An idea might be to just multiply all armor costs or weights or DR by a constant, to compress the scale or expand the range of results, depending on what you'd like to achieve. Or all of the above, really. Multiply all costs by .5 to .8 to flatten the range of costs, or multiply all weights by .6 to .8 to reduce the weights and basically give everyone Fine for free, or multiply all DRs by 1.25 (to bump basically metal armor only) or 1.33 or even 1.5 (to bump leathers/cloths too). But do it cross the game, instead of giving Fine at character creation. ; Adjusting starting equipment Don't forget Cloth is an upgrade for Leather items making them lighter and more expensive, which makes it pretty handy for the All Others template. I emailed some draft kits of gear to Kevin in I think June that I don't have in my email here (I'm out of the house atm). I can dig those up if he doesn't find them first. --Bruno 23:53, August 20, 2010 (UTC) : I'm having trouble finding the draft kits, and I'm beginning to think I never emailed them out or saved them after I started finding things settling in at around 2000$ for everything I cooked up. I'll see what I can sketch out. : Double checking, are the armor kits above still all Fine by default? One of the weird things Fine armor does is make heavier DRs more attractive to lower ST characters who "normally" rely on Dodge and perhaps Parry. :--Bruno 12:37, September 1, 2010 (UTC)